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German state minister stabbed

12 February 2004

HAMBURG – A minister in the Hamburg state government was knifed in the thigh Thursday in an attack that revived memories of stabbing attacks on some of Germany’s most senior leaders during election campaigning.

Roger Kusch, the justice minister, was wooing voters for his Christian Democratic Union (CDU) in a suburban pedestrian zone when a 41-year-old woman approached with a pocket-knife and attacked him.

She was overpowered by party aides and was being interviewed by police, who did not disclose her motive.

The attack recalled 1990 when two attacks shook Germany. Wolfgang Schaeuble, who later led the CDU, has used a wheelchair since being shot while giving a speech. Oskar Lafontaine, who later led the Social Democratic Party, recovered after a woman stabbed him during a campaign appearance.

Kusch, 49, who had no bodyguards with him at the time, was driven by his chauffeur to a nearby hospital and later discharged.

“I was lucky. The blade did not hit the nerves, bone or vital organs,” Kusch was quoted later telling the newspaper Die Welt. The women had yelled abuse at him about his homosexuality, he said.

The city-state of Hamburg is in election fever, with the vote set for 29 February. Kusch, a conservative onetime public prosecutor, has toughened conditions in city jails.

DPA
Subject: German news